PBS Documentary on WS Merwin and his Palm Forest

[MikeL]

Ever try to catch a glimpse of palms in the background of a TV program or movie? Well, you’re in for a treat this week as US public television (PBS) airs an hour-long documentary on Poet Laureate and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner W.S. Merwin, and his palm forest on Maui. You won't have to squint to see the palms in this show. Here is a list of airdates and stations around the country.

 

Even if you can’t watch the show in your part of the world, you might enjoy the trailer. Notice the small, potted palms from Floribunda – I can recognize Suchin Marcus’ handwriting on the labels – and, yes, that is John Dransfield with Merwin in the garden. Dransfield led the effort to identify and catalog the palms that Merwin began growing in the 1970s.

I imagine that PBS might consider this a show about a poet who also grows palms, but you and I are certainly welcome to think about it the other way around.

[Kevin S]

 I'm going to have to look that up and recorded on the DVR.  I love watching palms in the background of movies sad thing as a plant guy.  I notice all the plants in a movie that don't belong where they're at so I know they're not shooting on location.

[dmc]

Was a great documentary really enjoyed it Thanks for the heads up.

[cassowaryhill]

http://www.thirteen.org/programs/w-s-merwin-to-plant-a-tree/ws-merwin-to-plant-a-tree/ 

i got to watch it from Australia! AMAZING 

[MikeL]

5 hours ago, cassowaryhill said:

http://www.thirteen.org/programs/w-s-merwin-to-plant-a-tree/ws-merwin-to-plant-a-tree/ 

i got to watch it from Australia! AMAZING 

I think that's amazing you were able to track down the documentary in Australia And anyone else who'd like to watch the show online can follow the link you posted. It won't air until Saturday here in Hawaii so I haven't seen the whole show yet.

[MikeL]

Maybe just a little background on WS Merwin. He's been an IPS member for decades now and grew a lot of his palms in years past from seeds received from Inge Hoffman and the IPS seed bank. Like many of us, he's gotten a lot of palms in recent years from Jeff Marcus at Floribunda Palms. He spent years planting trees, carrying buckets of water uphill and down to the youngest plants, and hauling loads of seaweed from the harbor back to the garden to build up the soil. He's not really interested in computers - he is truly a poet, after all - so you won't find him posting on a forum like this, but he reads every issue of the Palms journal.

[MikeL]

And finally, if you don't have time to watch the whole hour-long documentary on Merwin, I suggest spending five minutes on this interview from the PBS NewsHour.

 

[cassowaryhill]

21 minutes ago, MikeL said:

I think that's amazing you were able to track down the documentary in Australia And anyone else who'd like to watch the show online can follow the link you posted. It won't air until Saturday here in Hawaii so I haven't seen the whole show yet.

I literally saw the first 3 mins and shed a tear... I miss home IE Airlie beach, Australia so much ... I used to have a garden like that .. So many memories